Group Project
Scenario
Your group represents the marketing team for a company. The research and
development team for the company has just designed a new product and has turned it
over to your team to develop a marketing plan. The product that has been developed
falls into the category of new to the world in other words nothing like this product exists
now. The development team has already tested the product so your team can make the
assumption that it works and that any technology needed for the product is available.
Objectives:
1. To develop skills needed to work as part of a team.
2. To work through a project that is similar to what you would encounter in the real world.
3. To develop communication skills – both written and oral.
Assignments:
1. By the end of week two each team must have decided what the product or service is
that you intend to market. Once your idea has been approved you can not change it.
2. To prepare a marketing plan for your product. A marketing plan consists of:
 An environmental analysiso Legal / political – what existing laws could affect companies in the
industry that your product fits into
o Economic – what economic factors could affect companies in the
industry that your product fits into
o Technology – what technological issues could affect companies in
the industry that your product fits into (this is not technology that
applies to your product but existing technology that could affect
any company in the industry)
o Social / Cultural – what social and cultural issues could affect
companies in the industry that your product fits into
 A Competitor Analysis –
o Who are your competitors
o What are their product, price, distribution and promotion strategies
o Who are their target markets (groups of customers that they are
aiming their product at)
o It is usually best to put your competitor analysis in chart format to
make it easier to compare the different companies
o Positioning maps are often included as part of a competitor
analysis
 A Customer Analysis o What target market are you going after
o What are the demographic, geographic, psychographic,
behavioural and product related characteristics of your target
market
o

Although many companies have more than one segment in their
target market – for this project select only one segment as your
target market
Marketing program –
o What product, price, distribution and promotion strategy are you
going use to attract your target market.
It is best if your marketing plan is written in point form. Your marketing plan can be as
long or short as you need it to be.
You should source any information included in your marketing plan. Sources should be
included on the same page as the information either in the document or at the bottom of
the page. When using a web site as a source always include the date accessed. You
should never include a work referenced or bibliography in a business report or marketing
plan.
Your marketing plan should include a section that answers the questions:
o How much will this cost
o How much will we make
3. Present your product idea. Your presentation can be part of your marketing plan but it
does not have to be. Your can present a commercial, product launch etc. The
presentation should be about ten minutes in length. The team can decide how many
members of the group take part in the presentation. There are two rules for
presentations –
o Don’t do anything illegal
o Whatever you bring into the classroom for your presentation you take
away with you
Grades
The report is 80% and the presentation is 20% of your group mark. The group mark is
multiplied by the number of people in the group to determine how many marks are
available to be distributed to group members. The grades will be distributed to group
members based on the peer evaluations results. This means that not everyone in the
group will get the same grade.